Moon lays out hydrogen plan as bus unveiled

President Moon Jae-in, third from left, poses for a photo in front of the country’s first production model of a hydrogen bus at the Changwon Exhibition Convention Center in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, on Wednesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Moon Jae-in called for stronger efforts to reduce fine dust emissions on World Environment Day, highlighting the government’s plans to abandon emissions-heavy vehicles for hydrogen power.

At a commemoration ceremony to mark the UN-led day on Wednesday in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, Moon explained the country’s progress in combating fine dust and outlined plans to adopt eco-friendly hydrogen vehicle technology.

“The government will increase the number of hydrogen city buses to 2,000 units by 2022 and replace 802 buses used by the police with hydrogen buses,” explained Moon, adding that the government aims to take the top spot in the global market share for hydrogen vehicles and fuel cells by 2030.

“[The government] will reduce fine dust emissions by over 30 percent by 2022 from levels in 2016,” said Moon.

After the ceremony, Moon examined the country’s first production hydrogen bus made by Hyundai Motor.

The automaker said that it will manufacture over 300 units of the hydrogen bus annually starting from next year. The deployment of hydrogen buses accelerates goals announced earlier this year to achieve 6.2 million units of hydrogen vehicle sales by 2040.

Moon also called to reduce the number of diesel vehicles, which are partly responsible for fine dust emissions in urban areas.

“By 2021, [the government] will scrap one million aging diesel vehicles earlier than planned,” Moon added, explaining that the government will completely stop using diesel vehicles in the public sector by 2030.

Moon urged the legislative body to cooperate in the battle against fine dust.

BY CHAE YUN-HWAN [chae.yunhwan@joongang.co.kr]